Explanations of fuel technology

Combustion Chamber graphic - illustrates the cycles of an engine in a combustion chamber. (audi.com) It would be nice if we could produce graphics like this to illustrate various key principles regarding fuel economy.

After Combustion: Detonation! - This Popular Science article about aircraft engines discusses why the speed of the flame spread is more important than the completeness of combustion. In short, there are two kinds of combustion: the old, familiar, slow kind of burning, called deflagration, and another, much more energetic process called detonation. "Deflagration-to-detonation transition," or DDT, is the process by which an ordinary flame suddenly accelerates into an immensely more powerful detonation which generates more thrust for the amount of fuel combusted than a deflagration.

TDI Diesels

NOTE: ' If the number of diesel vehicles in private use went from less than 10% to over 60% of the private US vehicle fleet, mirroring European diesel engine adoption rates, we would see a 25% reduction in the amount of oil used in the US.'